At least 6 schools in Chicago archdiocese slated to close

Six Archdiocese of Chicago elementary schools are slated to close, though the parents and staff of at least one school are fighting the closure. (Posted on: January 9, 2014)

Six Archdiocese of Chicago elementary schools are slated to close, though the parents and staff of at least one school are fighting the closure. (Posted on: January 9, 2014)

Manya Brachear PashmanTribune reporter

Six elementary schools in the Chicago Archdiocese are slated to close at the end of the school year, and more could join that list before the end of the month, officials said Thursday.

Sister Mary Paul McCaughey, superintendent of Chicago Catholic schools, said the need to cut $10 million from the schools budget next year gives the archdiocese very little flexibility. She said she is urging parents to find new schools for their children.

“Right or wrong we don't want to get anyone's hopes up,” McCaughey told the Tribune. “We want it to be very solid. We don't want any bitterness. We don't want to be sitting back at the table with the same schools next year.”

McCaughey said she had hoped to give schools more time to increase enrollment and revenue. But the archdiocese simply could not afford the same level of subsidies for another school year.

“We are being hard-nosed because these are the savings that have to be achieved,” she said.

Our Lady of Victory and the Stewart Avenue campus of the Academy of St. Benedict the African in Chicago, Santa Maria del Popolo in Mundelein and St. Christopher in Midlothian have been notified, McCaughey said. She did not identify another school that was notified Thursday night. Parents and faculty with the sixth were expected to be informed by week's end.

News of the closings sparked shock and disappointment in the nation's largest Catholic school system, where total elementary school enrollment has ticked up this school year over last, from 60,530 to 60,629 students.

But some schools have still struggled, said Ryan Blackburn, an archdiocese schools spokesman. In fact, most of the growth occurred within city limits. Enrollment in suburban Cook and Lake counties has slipped, according to archdiocese data.

McCaughey said administrators looked at schools with low enrollment and demographic challenges in areas where other schools could absorb displaced students.

Jeannie Erffmeyer, who has a daughter in fifth grade at St. Christopher and one who already graduated, was one of dozens of parents of students there who were told of the school's closing at a Thursday afternoon meeting.

“I don't know if I'm going to trust another Catholic school,” she said. “I've been here for 12 years. I've put my heart into this place.”

Parents of students at each closing school will receive a list of other Catholic schools to consider within a five-mile radius, McCaughey said. Scholarships will follow students who enroll at other Catholic schools. All students will receive $1,000 vouchers, “to say to parents ‘we're sorry and we hope you continue to choose Catholic education.'” McCaughey said.

Still, families and staff of Our Lady of Victory School, 4434 N. Laramie Ave., say they are committed to trying to stay open by making up the deficit through tuition, other grants and fundraising. Since Principal Jennifer Hodge started at the school 18 months ago, enrollment has grown by 80 students for a total of 163 kids, she said.

The school has started a new STEM curriculum — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — and increased the use of technology.

“It was a bit of a shock, because we knew we have been on a bit of an upswing,” Hodge said. “We've been here for 100 years, And we hope we can continue for another 100 years.”

A total of 80 students now attend Santa Maria del Popolo, which has been around for 60 years. It serves students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

Students now enrolled at Santa Maria del Popolo, one of three schools that feeds Frassati Catholic Academy, a Wauconda middle school, will get priority enrollment at Mundelein's St. Mary of the Annunciation.

Santa Maria del Popolo business manager Donna Rothmann said a local parent hopes to raise money to give teachers and administrators a higher-than-normal bonus at year's end.

Laura Castillo, who has two children at Santa Maria del Popolo, said she has been active in fundraising efforts since she moved to Mundelein more than three years ago.

“We worked our hardest, but at the end of the day, we weren't able to cross the finish line,” Castillo said. “What can we say, other than, ‘We tried'? What else can we do?”